I am submitting an Autoconf Macro I've been developing for the past couple months - ax_check_mysql.m4. I'm aware that multiple other MySQL macros exist, but mine is specifically geared toward MySQL plugin development and installation. Specifically:

-Automatically Detects binary, include, and plugin directories for most typical MySQL installations.
-Provides methods for one to designate the directories manually, or point to a root directory containing a MySQL installation.

Once such a installation is found, my macro:

-Finds the MySQL version
-Find the architecture of the installation (32/64 bit)
-Determines whether plugins can be installed
-Determines whether MySQL version is 5.5 or above (slightly different includes)

I couldn't find anything else that encompasses what I was looking for, so I hope submitting it here helps others not go through the trouble.

Thanks for your time!

NOTE: This macro is only compatible with unix-based environment. It has been tested on all major forms of Linux and versions of Mac OS X. However, no windows testing has been done.